Que Sera Sera (House)

House (TV series) episode
episode_name = Que Sera Sera
episode_no = HOU-306
airdate = November 7 2006
writer = Thomas L. Moran
director = Deran Sarafian
guest_star = Pruitt Taylor Vince as George


season = 3
diagnosis = Small cell lung carcinoma

"Que Sera Sera" is the sixth episode of the third season of "House" and the fifty-second episode overall.

Plot

The episode begins as firefighters are attempting to recover the body of a morbidly obese man, who was apparently discovered dead in his apartment. Whilst trying to move him, they hear an expulsion of flatulence, leading them to believe he might not be dead. On double checking his vital signs they find he is alive, but comatose.

Cuddy brings his file to the team's attention for a consult, only to find House hasn't yet come in to work. Initial differential diagnosis says that despite his obesity he is relatively healthy, with no diabetes mellitus or high cholesterol - which are not normal symptoms for a man of his size.

We discover that House is still in jail, from his arrest in the previous episode "Fools for Love", by Detective Tritter, a cop who was angered by House's anti-social behavior and prank. House asks to be arraigned or released and Tritter gives him the choice. Dr. House is arraigned (presumably because he refused to apologise), and is released on bail, with Wilson providing the $15,000 bond. Wilson advises House to get a lawyer, to which he replies "I already have one". Wilson takes this to mean he'll represent himself, and advises him against it.

While the team is talking about House's absence, he arrives in the room. The initial differential diagnosis draws a blank, and Dr. House suggests getting a full medical history and checking out his home looking for environmental stimuli that might have caused his condition. Cameron does, and notices how the apartment and lifestyle of the patient (George) is similar to that of House. She talks to a neighbour who says he also has prostitutes visit his apartment.

House then does his clinic duty, where he meets a man who wakes with a pain in his arm every time he sleeps on it. After asking him to alter his sleep behavior, which the patient refuses to do, House sarcastically offers to have his arm removed. The patient then storms out of the examination room. House also leaves the room and is confronted by Detective Tritter where they have another verbal altercation.

The team then attempts another differential diagnosis with the initial assumption of syphilis. House dismisses this saying the problem has to do with his weight. House suggests checking his brain for clots. When the team suggests he is too heavy for both the MRI and CT scanner, he suggests skipping it and going for treatment (blood thinners). Despite this, Foreman and Cameron attempt to give him an MRI. Cuddy goes to House with the name of a lawyer. During the scan, the patient starts choking and moving as he awakes from his coma, breaking the MRI machine.

The team conducts another differential diagnosis when Cuddy storms in accusing House of breaking the newly-repaired MRI machine. House proclaims his innocence, and Cameron says it was her idea, citing the possible lawsuit the hospital would have faced if the hospital didn't treat him properly because of his weight, which is a legally registered disability. During the differential diagnosis, Foreman suggests the problem is hormonal while Cameron suggests the problem is STD-related. House says to check him for both, while he tells Chase to "sit on your ass," as he had said it was a hematoma that would go away on its own.

Foreman and Cameron talk to the patient who says he has been tested for hormonal imbalances and diabetes before, although he claims to have had nystagmus, an eye disorder, from birth. The patient claims to be better and wants to go home. The doctors advise against this, citing the seriousness of him previously falling into a coma. The patient then cites the number of fatalities that are caused by hospital-borne infections.

House is talking to Wilson when Foreman and Cameron go up to him citing all the tests were normal. House visits the patient, when he receives an alarming phone call. He rushes back to his apartment, where his possessions have been disturbed. He then finds Detective Tritter who was executing a search warrant of the apartment. Tritter finds hundreds of Vicodin tablets, saying that the sheer number of pills could appear to be evidence of intent to traffic to a DA.

House goes back to the hospital where he orders his team to discharge the patient. He confronts Wilson thinking he talked to the cop, which Wilson denies and tells him to visit his lawyer. The patient is discharged and tries to leave but becomes disoriented, and falls through a glass window, taking Cameron with him. Re-admitted, it transpires that Cameron gave him a drug which caused the fall, saying she didn't think he should leave the hospital. It is revealed that the patient skipped a meal which leads House to think it could be a parasite causing the loss of appetite. Being too big for a lumbar puncture, he suggests brain surgery. During the procedure, the patient becomes blind. The team suggest this could be MS, while House still thinks it's diabetes.

Cameron visits the patient who becomes agitated when House still suggests it's diabetes that's causing the problems. He repeatedly refuses the sugar drink that Cameron tries to give him, stating that he'll refuse any treatment that has to do with his weight. Meanwhile, House visits a lawyer. The lawyer recommends a plea bargain, but House refuses this. They then decide to go to court. House visits the patient again to try to coerce him to cooperate. While the patient refuses and starts physically fighting House in order to stop him from doing the procedure, House notices his hands are clubbed and suggests X-raying his hands, among other diagnostic tests. Cameron asks how the patient will agree to the procedures, when House tells her to tell the patient it's for lung cancer. The tests confirm this diagnosis, and Cameron informs the patient he has terminal lung cancer. After a long sad sigh, George responds with "C'est la vie" (that's life)."

The episode ends with Tritter interviewing Wilson in his hotel room. Tritter confronts him with prescriptions that don't match Wilson's signature, from a previous episode where House stole a prescription pad from Wilson and forged his signature. Wilson fails to contain his surprise and lies to cover this by saying he sometimes signs his name differently. Sensing the lie, Tritter gives him another chance, but Wilson sticks to his version. Tritter then leaves citing the trouble both Wilson and House would be in if he is lying. Tritter leaves the room leaving Wilson visibly agitated.

Trivia

* The same disease was seen in the first season episode "Babies & Bathwater", but with different conditions.

* After Cameron admits she drugged George to prevent him from being discharged, House remarks "Nice audible, Peyton". This is a reference to Peyton Manning and his tendency to call a large number of audibles when on the field.

* George claims to have nystagmus, an eye condition that causes involuntary eye movement. In real life Pruitt Taylor Vince, the actor who plays George, really does have the condition [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0898546/bio|title=Pruitt Taylor Vince IMDB Biography]

* The name of the episode is a reference to the song Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

* The guitar that House puts away after his apartment has been searched and that he plays at the end of the episode is a Gibson Les Paul - obvious from the case he puts it back in and because of the white binding that lines the body of the guitar.

* This episode marks the last appearance of Nurse Brenda Previn. She appeared in a number of episodes, often making snide remarks to House and his team.

References

External links

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* [http://politedissent.com/archives/1442 Medical review of "Que Sera, Sera"]